


Trust Me

by livia_1291



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Armin Arlert - Freeform, Armin is blind, Blind AU, Blind Armin, Eremin - Freeform, Eren Is a Little Shit, Eren Jaeger - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Titan Shifters, aw yiss, don't worry they get their happy ending in this one, i got to write a cheesy ocean scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 18:58:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8501527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livia_1291/pseuds/livia_1291
Summary: Brief snapshots of a blinded Armin struggling to reacquaint himself with the world around him, while Eren fights to sort out his churning emotions. Blind!Armin, otherwise canonverse.





	1. Chapter 1

Armin would never forget the day the world turned black.

 

He remembered screaming, but he couldn’t tell if it was him or someone else, and after he had fallen, he remembered the way the cobbled street felt, hot from the sun and smooth from the years of pedestrian traffic.

 

“So this is how it ends,” he thought to himself as he lay there, unable to move. A sense of serenity washed over him like the ocean waves he would never see as he waited for death to come.

 

It never did. A husky roar pierced the darkness, and Armin felt a huge, but surprisingly gentle hand scoop him up before he passed out.

 

-

 

“He’s moving!”

 

“Shut up, Horseface, he might not be awake ye- OW, what was that for, Mikasa?”

 

“For being an idiot.”

 

Armin could hear his comrades all around him, but he couldn’t see them. Something warm and soft swaddled his eyes, and he lifted his aching arm to brush it, fingers discovering clean cotton bandages.

 

“I can’t…” he croaked softly, and he felt someone gently lower his hand.

 

“Don’t touch,” he heard Mikasa say, and he struggled to sit up, alarmed.

 

“I can’t see!” His small body was paralyzed with fear, and he could feel himself shaking violently. “I can’t see, where did-? Am I-? Eren, help me!” The plea that tumbled from his lips was instinctual, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a warm, slightly calloused hand in his own. Then there was the feeling of pressure beside him on the cot, and he could tell Eren was sitting on the bed.

 

“I’m here.” His best friend’s voice was surprisingly steady, and Armin clutched Eren’s hand as if it might pull him from this dark abyss and return his sight.

 

“There’s no easy way to tell you this, Armin…” Eren began, and the blond dipped his head, bloody hair brushing his cheeks as he braced himself. He already knew what Eren was going to say (he wasn’t stupid), but he didn’t want to believe it. “You’ve lost your sight. The medics did the best they could, but the damage to your eyes was really bad.”

 

Armin was silent, letting the words sink in like poison.

 

“I can’t see the ocean now,” he whispered, and Eren pulled him protectively to his warm chest, like he would do when they were small, and Armin had had a nightmare. The blinded boy felt a rough thumb brush the tears from his sightless eyes beneath the bandages.

 

“I’m not giving up on you, and I’m not giving up on our dream,” Eren whispered into his ear, holding his best friend tightly in order to comfort him. “I’ll be your eyes. You’ll just have to trust me.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Armin-”

 

“No.”

 

“You have to take-”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

Eren sighed in exasperation at Armin’s uncharacteristic stubbornness, crossing his arms over his chest. “You haven’t bathed in a week. I could kill a Titan with the smell!”

 

“I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” the blond mumbled. “I feel so vulnerable… I can’t see danger, I can’t see beauty, I can’t see anything. What good am I without the ability to see? Without sight, I can’t strategize. Without strategy, I’m useless.”

 

It was a difficult question, and Eren didn’t know the answer immediately. It wasn’t that he was stupid - that wasn’t the case at all. He just needed time to think and process before he answered seriously.

 

“That has nothing to do with why you haven’t taken a bath. You can’t stay here forever, and besides, you’ll feel better if you take a shower.” Armin yelped as he felt the other boy scoop him up bridal style and tote him out of the medical wing with ease.

 

“Put me down!”

 

“No, you’re taking a bath, whether you like it or not,” Eren said decisively.

 

The fresh air was cool on Armin’s face, and he smelled woodsmoke from the cookhouses, sharp and tangy. He heard wind rustling in the trees, and birds trilling up above. He could feel Eren’s strong arms around him, hear his heart beating in his chest, and smell the masculine scent of sweat and rain and blood. He was so lost in senses that he hardly noticed when Eren set him down in the showers.

 

“Can you handle showering on your own?” Eren asked, and Armin could hear the slight discomfort in his voice, eliciting a small smile from the blind boy.

 

“I think I can. How bad can it be? I will need your help with the bandages, though,” He responded, lifting a hand to brush the bindings that hid his ruined eyes.

 

“Sure thing,” Eren responded, and Armin felt nimble fingers working the knot that held the bindings to his face. Slowly, Eren unwrapped the cloth from his friend’s face, stifling a gasp when the last slightly bloodied bandages fell to the floor of the bathhouse.

 

Armin’s eyes, once bluer than the sky and brighter than the stars, had gone milky and blank. Traces of crimson blood clung to his long lashes, and the pale, delicate skin around his eyes was a mess of dried blood and tears.

 

Eren’s chest ached when he looked at him, not because he was disgusted, not because he didn’t see his best friend anymore, but because when he looked into those sightless, milky eyes, all he could think was that _it should have been me._

 

“Eren?” Armin asked softly, and the shifter snapped out of his thoughts.

 

“I’m sorry, I’ll wait outside,” he said quickly, and Armin listened to the heavy sound of boots on the floor until he was sure he was alone.

 

Slowly and meticulously, he stripped out of his clothing, leaving it on what he was sure was the outside of the shower before carefully feeling along the wall for the shower knob.

 

As he showered, he found himself paying more attention to little things, like how rough the grout on the shower wall was, and how the cold water rushed over his skin in invigorating, icy rivulets. It was amazing how much more he was hearing and feeling daily with the loss of his sight.

 

Only by feel, he managed to clean his entire body, and felt much better afterwards, as Eren had suggested he would.

 

He toweled off and changed, feeling along the walls for the door before pushing it open.

 

“Eren?”

 

“I’m here.”

 

There was the sound of someone getting up, and Eren gave a snort of laughter.

 

“Your shirt’s on backwards,” the shifter told his best friend, and Armin blushed, unable to hide a slight smile.

 

“Then quit laughing and help me out, please, and I need to cover my eyes again.”

 

“Cover your eyes?” Eren asked as he helped Armin turn the shirt around, “Why?”

 

“I just don’t want to deal with the questions or feel the stares until i’m comfortable with it myself,” he admitted softly, and Eren's heart snatched in his throat. Armin, sweet, smart Armin was ashamed.

 

“Alright, that’s fair,” the other boy responded, but Armin could hear the frown in his voice. “If anyone gives you any shit about it, tell me.”

 

Armin snorted and shook his head. “You won’t go Titan on them, will you?” he asked. “I can’t have you getting in trouble, now.”

 

Eren took his hand to help guide him down the stairs. “Nah, lowlifes like that aren’t worth the energy. Trust me!”

 

Armin cracked a tiny smile, shaking his head again. “I have to," he joked, "You are my eyes.”


	3. Chapter 3

Just because his eyes were healed didn’t mean Armin was.

 

Of course, when the medics said “healed,” that didn’t mean he could see again. It meant that he was no longer in danger of infection, which could result in him losing more of his face.

 

His sight was certainly, most definitely gone.

 

For the first few days, he clung to the hope that it was only temporary blindness, that he would wake up one morning and see the world as he knew it, instead of stifling darkness, or that maybe this was all a bad dream.

 

Mikasa was the one to finally snap him out of that illusion. She settled down across from him, took his hands, and told him in a soothing, serious voice that his sight was gone - gone like his parents, gone like his grandfather - and that he needed to begin to move on.

 

Simple tasks, like taking a shower or getting dressed, now required a lot more thought and care. Complex tasks, like fighting Titans, were completely impossible.

 

Armin hated being a burden more than anything else in the world (save for the Titans, of course, but that was a given). He hated the feeling of being redundant, and had since he was small. Every time Eren and Mikasa would come to bail him out of a fight, he would feel terrible about not being able to do it himself. All he wanted was to be like them: strong and brave and capable.

 

Now, he felt even more useless. He couldn’t see to decide what a good course of action would be, he couldn’t see who needed help, and he couldn’t fight at all anymore. The cause dearest to his heart had lost all value, and that hurt worse than the actual injury.

 

It was dark in the barracks - Armin could tell that much. He could still distinguish between dark and light, but he couldn’t sleep. He was propped up on a thin pillow, knees drawn to his chest as he fingered the rough sheets, tears dripping from his ruined, sightless eyes as one disturbing and unanswered question rang out loud and clear in his mind: “What now?”

 

He felt a weight settle beside him on the bed, and he could tell who it was almost instantly - not by sight, or by the sound of his voice, but by smell.

 

How strange.

 

“Eren?” Armin whispered hoarsely, feeling for the person’s hand.

 

“It’s me,” came the low response, and he felt fingers interlace with his own in a comforting gesture. “I couldn’t sleep either. Nightmares. What’s with you?”

 

Armin shook his head, heart aching in his chest. “What now, Eren?” He whispered, and Eren realized his friend was weeping.

 

“Hey,” he murmured, gently wiping tears from milky, sightless eyes, “don’t cry, I’m here. What do you mean, ‘what now?’

 

“I mean, what will happen to me? I can’t fight anymore, I can’t strategize; I can barely walk without running into something! I’m useless now! What becomes of me? Do I spend the rest of my life alone in these walls? Do I have to leave the Survey Corps?”

 

Hidden within the last question was another subtle one, the real question: ‘Do I have to leave you?’

 

“Don’t you dare say that,” Eren hissed, and Armin was surprised at the sharpness of his tone. “I hate the way you talk about yourself, Armin. If anyone else said that you were useless, I’d beat the crap out of them. You’re not useless. Your strategizing skills don’t rely on your sight - we can still tell you what’s going on, right?”

 

Eren took Armin’s other hand, pulling him a little closer. “Armin Arlert, you have a brilliant mind, even without your eyes. You have to take a different approach to life now, but that’s okay. We all have to take different routes sometimes. Things never go the way you plan them to, but you find your purpose and grow stronger in the surprises.”

 

Armin’s mouth was slightly ajar at the words, and slowly, very carefully, as to not hurt him, he draped his arms around Eren’s neck, momentarily surprising the shifter, who managed to relax after a moment.

 

“You’ve always been smarter than you give yourself credit for,” the blond whispered hoarsely, and Eren snorted, gently stroking Armin’s silky hair with one hand, while the other cradled the smaller boy to his chest.

 

“Not as smart as you, trust me.”

 

Armin offered a small, tired smile, momentarily reassured. Eren’s rhythmic heartbeat and the feeling of slender fingers in his hair was like a sleeping draught, and Armin found himself dozing off against his best friend’s steady bulk.

 

That was how their comrades found them in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

“...I don’t know what to do with him, now that the brat’s gone blind…”

 

Eren paused just outside Captain Levi’s door, breath catching in his throat. Blind? He must have been talking about Armin. And...was that Hanji?

 

“There are lots of things we can do - we’ve already talked about options. I can make it all happen.”

 

“We have to do something, and soon. He can’t just be here, eating food and taking up space, without working,” came Levi’s annoyed reply.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll work on something, Captain!”

 

Eren swallowed, feeling a little weak in the knees. Were Hanji and Levi talking about getting rid of Armin and sending him to work in the fields, or something?

 

He didn’t want to know, but the thoughts haunted him later in the evening as he settled down beside his best friend on his bunk, nagging at him while he tried to relax.

 

“This is torture,” Armin whispered quietly, brushing his fingertips over the pages of the book before him. He could feel the subtle difference between the ink and the bare page, but he couldn’t decipher the words.

 

“Mikasa told me there was once a kind of writing made for people who were blind,” Eren told him, keeping his mind off Levi and Hanji as best he could. Armin deserved all of his attention. “I think it was called brassiere, or something?”

 

Armin covered his mouth to stifle his laughter. “Definitely not. You mean braille. I’ve heard of it, but I can’t learn it. There aren’t any surviving records of it.”

 

Eren frowned, gazing down at the open book between them. “Then, until we find records, I’ll just read to you,” the brunette stated decisively. Armin felt a small smile grace his lips, warmth blooming in his chest at his friend’s consideration.

 

“You don’t even like reading,” Armin reminded him, reaching up to carefully ajust the cloth blindfold over his ruined eyes.

 

“But you do,” Eren responded, taking the book from between them and laying it in his lap, taking a deep breath before beginning to read aloud to Armin, who swayed peacefully with the rythmic lull of his voice.

 

“There are seven continents on our earth, all surrounded by salty oceans…”

 

-

 

Eren couldn’t get the conversation he had overheard earlier out of his head. What did Hanji mean “they had already talked about options?” Were they considering which place would be the cheapest or easiest to send Armin? Were they even thinking about what would make the blond strategist comfortable?

 

He scowled into the lamplight, clenching his fist into the rough blanket. Of course they weren’t. They were just thinking of how to conserve food and space. If they saw Armin as useless now, there was no way he would be able to stay in the Survey Corps.

 

He was determined to prove to them that, even without sight, Armin was still a valuable asset to the team. He wouldn’t - couldn’t - lose his best friend this way.

 

As Eren gazed at his sleeping friend, his green eyes narrowed in resolve. “You’re not going anywhere,” he murmured to Armin, and the blind boy stirred in his sleep. “I’ll teach you how to fight again, without your eyes. You just have to trust me.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Eren, you don’t understand, I can’t-”

 

“Of course you can, stop saying you can’t!”

 

Armin frowned, running his fingers along the familiar harness encircling his slender form. They had been out in the blazing sun for five hours now, and Armin was hot and dehydrated. “Eren, tell me how I’m supposed to use my 3DM Gear if I can’t see where I’m going? For all I can tell, I’ll swing right into a Titan’s mouth!”

 

Eren scowled, and although Armin couldn’t see the expression on his friend’s face, he could hear the frustration ringing in his voice. “Then what should I tell you?! If you can’t fight anymore, maybe you can’t stay in the Survey Corps! Only the strong survive, Armin!”

 

The blond clenched his fists, hiding his shock that his friend would say something like that. “Do you think I wanted this?! Do you honestly think I didn’t want to fight?” He asked, voice quivering.

 

The hot-tempered shifter gave a bark of laughter. “Given that you’re constantly terrified, maybe! The Survey Corps will go on without you, Armin. We have to.”

 

“Fine!” Armin’s voice was trembling, and he turned on his heel, breaking into a run. He didn’t care if he ran into things, he didn’t care if Levi saw him and yelled at him, he needed to get out of there, and breathe.

 

-

 

Eren had stormed off, and plopped down unceremoniously on the wooden stairs of the barracks, brows furrowed, his head in his hands as he cooled off.

 

He wasn’t mad at Armin - it wasn’t his fault. Eren had just taken out his anger on him, and he already felt pretty bad about it. He was just frustrated, worried that Armin wouldn’t be able to stay in the Survey Corps, afraid that he would have to say goodbye to his best friend.

 

“Eren.”

 

A familiar, calming voice snapped him from his throughts, and Eren looked up, surprised to see Mikasa standing before him.

 

“Hey Mikasa,” he greeted, and she settled down beside him.

 

“Where’s Armin?” She asked, studying his face with critical eyes.

 

Eren awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing as Mikasa narrowed her eyes. “I...I sort of snapped at him, and he ran off,” he muttered sheepishly, and no sooner than the words had left his mouth, he felt his sister’s open palm strike his cheek.

 

“OW! What the hell, Mikasa?!”

 

She glared at him icily, and he felt himself shudder at the way she was looking at him.

 

“He lost both of his parents, his grandfather, and his home, and now he can’t fight. All he had left was you, and his dream to see the outside world. See it, Eren, not hear it or smell it or touch it, and now he can’t fulfill that dream. He probably thinks he’s lost you, too.”

 

He swallowed, and she crossed her arms.

 

“Apologize,” she ordered.

 

“I already feel bad about snapping at him,” Eren muttered, looking away from his sister’s piercing gaze. “It’s not him. I’m just worried that I’m going to lose him. I heard Hanji and Levi talking about “figuring out what to do with him.” What if they get rid of him? What happens if he can’t stay in the Survey Corps?”

 

Mikasa shook her head in response. “He’s staying. Levi’s not stupid, he knows Armin is a valuable asset. He has a brilliant mind. Hanji is working as we speak on a textured map so he can still come up with plans. Just because he can’t fight doesn’t mean he has to go.”

 

Eren took a deep breath, relief visible on his face. So they really were working to keep Armin, not finding ways to get rid of him.

 

“I guess I should go find him,” he said, getting to his feet, and Mikasa nodded.

“Yes. You have an apology to make.”


	6. Chapter 6

Armin couldn’t have gone far, Eren knew that much. The ground around them was barren, rocky and trecherous to navigate. The brunette didn’t even want to think about how Armin would have fared over it, upset and suspended in perpetual darkness.

 

“Armiiiiiin!” He called, his voice ringing clearly over the camp. When he recieved no response, he frowned, his expression twisting in concern and frustration. “Where could he be…?”

 

Eren stopped to think, placing a hand on his hip and musing for a long moment before it hit him. “The Grove, why didn’t I think of that?!”

 

The “Grove” was a lone, gnarled oak tree near the training fields where Armin, Eren, and Mikasa had spent much of their rare free time when they were trainees. There was a worn path leading to and from it, and Armin was certainly perceptive enough to find his way by feel alone.

 

Sure enough, when Eren reached the ancient tree, there was a small form huddled beneath it. By the shock of sunny blond hair, the shifter could tell it was Armin.

 

Eren approached him while making a considerable amount of noise, so as not to startle the blind boy. Armin looked up from where he had tucked his head atop his knees, which were drawn tight to his chest. “Who’s there?”

 

“It’s me,” Eren replied hesitantly, and Armin frowned slightly.

 

“Is there something you need?” He asked cautiously, clearly wondering if he was about to be snapped at again.

 

“Yes. I need to say sorry,” the other boy muttered, settling beside Armin, who tipped his head curiously to the side, urging him to go on.

 

“I messed up,” Eren admitted. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. It isn’t you I’m frustrated with - it’s myself. I...I overheard Hanji and Levi talking about what to do with you, and I jumped to conclusions. I was afraid they were going to send you to work in the fields, and I...I don’t want to lose you, Armin!”

 

The last words came out in a rush, and the blond felt every ounce of anger he had held towards his best friend for snapping at him melt away.

 

“They weren’t even talking about getting rid of you,” Eren continued, tracing patterns in the dirt. “They were talking about how to keep you.” He swallowed, feeling guilt fill him up and weigh him down. “I pushed you too hard, and I’m sorry. I should have been thinking about you and your limits instead of what I wanted.”

 

Armin was speechless, and it took him a moment to gather his thoughts.

 

“You’ve grown,” the blond boy murmured, and Eren gave a wry smile, reaching out to guide Armin to face him.

 

“So have you,” Eren murmured, closing his eyes to allow Armin to carefully explore his facial expression with nimble fingers.

 

The blind boy gave a bitter laugh, resting his hands on Eren’s strong shoulders. “Have I? I’m still frightened. I still want my sight back. I still cling to my dream of seeing the outside world, even though they took that from me, too.”

 

Eren shook his head, reaching out to brush the knot of bandages that hid Armin’s eyes like a blindfold.

 

“They can’t take your dream,” Eren murmured, slowly working the knot undone. He felt Armin tense slightly when he began to slowly unwrap them. “You’re strong, Armin. You’ll overcome this, and you haven’t give up. Because you haven’t given up, you haven’t lost. You have to keep fighting.”

 

“Eren, I’m tired,” Armin whispered hoarsely. “Sometimes I don’t want to keep fighting.”

 

The final layer of bandages fell away, revealing milky, unseeing eyes filled with tears. They were so close now, Armin could feel Eren’s warm breath on his newly exposed skin.

 

“Armin...You’re brave,” Eren whispered, running a calloused thumb along the soft skin beneath Armin’s ruined eyes to wipe the tears away.

 

“You were always the bravest of us all.”

 

When their lips met, Armin could have sworn he _saw._


	7. Chapter 7

Armin smelled the ocean before anything else. As they traveled, the air around them steadily became thicker and heavy with moisture. He inhaled deeply to savor the sharp tang of salt and seaweed, breathing out a windy sigh.

 

“We’re almost there,” Eren told him, and Armin nodded behind him, swaying with their horse’s rythmic steps.

 

“I smell it,” He murmured, voice full of wonder. “It smells so good.”

 

He heard it next, crashing and singing over the shore. The cries of seabirds became louder as they got closer, and Armin breathed deeply of the strong scent, small body quivering in anticipation.

 

Armin could hear Eren’s sharp gasp when they broke through the treeline, telling him that they had arrived.

 

“Oh Armin…” the brunette breathed, and Armin rested his chin on Eren’s shoulder from where he was on the horse, a smile curving his thin lips upward.

 

“Is it big?” he asked eagerly, and he could feel Eren nodding.

 

“It’s huge, Armin, I can’t see the other side, it goes on forever,” Eren breathed, and the blond lightly tugged his shirt.

 

“Then why are we still sitting here?” He asked, hardly able to contain the excitement swelling in his chest.

 

Eren grinned even though Armin couldn’t see, dismounting and helping the other boy down before tying the horse to a nearby tree.

 

“The sand is so soft!” Armin gasped, stooping to scoop up a handful and letting it fall through his fingers.

 

“It’s white, like snow,” Eren informed him, and Armin quickly kicked his boots off, gasping in delight at the feeling of the warm, silky earth beneath his feet.

 

Armin felt his guide take his hand, and he intertwined their fingers, walking closer to the water with Eren.

 

The blond could feel the sand change beneath his bare feet, going from soft power to cool and firm. And then, all at once, it gave way to water, and he felt cool waves lap at his feet, eliciting a sharp inhalation.

 

“Are you okay?” Eren asked, seeming alarmed by his companion’s gasp.

 

“Yes, I just… Wow,” Armin breathed.

 

“Do you think it’s salty, like the book said? It sure smells salty,” Eren remarked, and Armin tilted his head curiously, leaning down with cupped hands to scoop up some of the water, hesitantly bringing it to his liips and taking a sip before promptly spitting it out.

 

“Eugh! It is salty!” He wrinkled his nose at his friend’s laughter, swatting at what he thought was Eren’s shoulder, but missing.

 

“Let me taste,” Eren said once he had caught his breath from laughing so hard. He couldn’t help it, Armin’s expression had been too precious. Armin huffed and nodded, expecting to hear the sound of drinking (and then gagging) any moment.

 

Instead, he was treated to a pair of strong arms around his hips and Eren’s lips on his own in a kiss that tasted like salt and sunlight.

 

When they broke the kiss, Armin was smiling, carefully draping his arms around Eren’s neck as they stood together in the waves.

 

“Not what I thought you meant by tasting, but I’m not complaining,” the blind boy murmured, and Eren laughed softly, a sound that made Armin’s heart flutter.

 

“I figured you wouldn’t.”

 

“What color is it, Eren?” He asked, voice soft and full of wonder. “Is it green, like your eyes, or blue?”

 

“Blue,” Eren responded almost immediately. “It’s a thousand kinds of blue, Armin, just like your eyes were.”

 

“It sounds beautiful,” the blind boy whispered into the breeze, and Eren paused, squeezing his hand tight.

 

“I wish it had been me,” He whispered. “I would take your place in a heartbeat, Armin. You deserve to see the ocean, more than anyone in this whole damn world.”

 

“I don’t wish it could have been you,” Armin responded firmly. “I wouldn’t have picked this path, but I wouldn’t trade it, either. You were right, Eren. It has made me stronger. Maybe I didn’t get to see the ocean, but I’m still here, right?”

 

“I was starting to think this day would never come,” Eren whispered softly, and Armin smiled slightly, nodding.

 

“Me too, but it’s here. We’re here, and we can finally begin to live”

 

Eren nodded, pulling Armin a little closer and leaning close so that their foreheads rested together.

 

“We are. See? All you had to do was trust me.”


End file.
